Thoughts on v7 & Sibel + Installation question Options

[Badgerlad]

Heya,

Just wanted to say amazing job on the new version of IA! I finished my first v7 Core run and loved almost everything about it. The Druid Stronghold was my favorite, and all the new items were a blast to forge and experiment with (they definitely made the run smoother than usual).

I noticed EDE seemed significantly easier”SPOILER!

only 2 waves of noble/horrid spawned instead of infinite waves (IIRC)

. This was a great incentive for me to actually complete it, since I usually quit my runs there.
Amelyssane was quite the surprise too! Her final phase had me stumped for an hour or two”I couldn’t find a reliable way to dispel her, so I had to tough it out, which felt a bit like a war of attrition (not my favorite kind of fight). Still, it’s a fantastic finale, and I loved the simplicity of the upgrade mechanic.

I also tried the new Wizard Slayer kit (turned Keldorn into one”this could be a cool optional tweak for IATweaks, since it fits an Inquisitor thematically). Access to Purge completely changed how I approached some of the toughest fights:
SPOILER!

Supreme Leader: I was able to debuff him right at the entrance, clear the githyanki, and set him up to be tanked by a summon while I handled the rest. Normally, I’d rush the summoners, but this was way smoother.
Demogorgon: The Wizard Slayer’s Purge made this fight so much more manageable by letting me take out Rozvankhee early—no more 30+ rounds of vargouille spam! The core fight (still my favorite in IA) stayed just as epic, but the reduced tedium was a huge improvement.

That said, the WS still feels a bit clunky in a party (as others have mentioned). The lack of Haste makes them lag behind during exploration ”some quality-of-life adjustments would be great here. I ended up tweaking his movement speed with EEKeeper, which unfortunatly helped a ton in combat as a side effect (even if that wasn’t my original goal).
Despite this, the WS’s kit and HLAs make them surprisingly tanky and deadly ”they ended up third in party %kills, trailing only RB and Sibel.

Suggestion: Maybe introduce an early-game WS-exclusive item (e.g., armor or boots combinable with Boots of the Regiment) that doubles movement speed without magic? For flavor, it could be something like non-magical "roller skates" with a tradeoff (e.g., speed at the cost of AC/THACO penalties or an "aerodynamic plate" with reduced defense).

Sibel ”wow. She’s incredibly strong thanks to her gear, but what I loved most was how you made the Cleric feel like a true party member rather than just a buff/heal bot. She nearly matched RB in %kills by endgame while still being a full caster and using sword & board the whole time. This approach felt way more satisfying than the extra spells from IA6.5 (the Shaman update). That said, her questline felt a wee bit too easy for the power of her rewards ”though WS Purge might have skewed my perception.

As for my Avenger protagonist, I wasn’t entirely sold. He ended up feeling like an extra fighter with class-exclusive gear but couldn’t frontline effectively (dispels hurt!). In hindsight, I’d have gone Shaman (which I remember fondly from my last run).

Neera’s wild surges still make me nervous, but her new items are cool, and she handled solo casting just fine (with massive help from the WS). We cleared the run comfortably without RVE, which to me was a first.



Next Run Plans: Going Vagrant, with Aerie as a Shaman and Mazzy (excited to try her upgraded kit!).

Quick Questions:

While cleaning my install, I noticed the IATweaks option "Allow non-Vagrant protagonists to play Shimmering Light & The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" wouldn’t install. Is there a workaround?

Should SibelNPC be installed before or after IATweaks?


Final Thoughts: Thanks again for an incredible experience ”I had a blast with this run and can’t wait to see what’s next!

This post has been edited by Badgerlad: Jun 19 2025, 07:29 PM

[SparrowJacek]

Thank you for your kind words! We're really glad that you had good time with the mod once more

That said, the WS still feels a bit clunky in a party (as others have mentioned). The lack of Haste makes them lag behind during exploration ”some quality-of-life adjustments would be great here.

That slow movement speed is one of his disadvantages that have to be painful to compensate for Purge Magic, which to me is the best ability in the game. But I agree that picking a class shouldn't affect the player's comfort when out of combat. So maybe we should add a passive ability that increases WS's movement speed but only outside of combat. The rationale being that they are very fast and agile (they get bonus strength and dexterity after all) in general, but when they fight they're really focused and make each move with caution and precision, which necessitates slower movements.

While cleaning my install, I noticed the IATweaks option "Allow non-Vagrant protagonists to play Shimmering Light & The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" wouldn’t install. Is there a workaround?

If I remember correctly, critto fixed that issue not too long ago, but the fix might not be present in the official release. You can download the newest version from https://github.com/critto-bg/ImprovedAnvilTweaks just click on the green button with "CODE" text and choose "download ZIP" and unpack it normally.

Should SibelNPC be installed before or after IATweaks?

I am not sure if components like Simplified Economy affect Sibel Mod in any way, but since some changes that IATweaks make are global (ie the mod iterates over all files of some type and makes changes to them), it's better to install Sibel Mod first, so that the files it introduces are also patched.

In hindsight, I’d have gone Shaman (which I remember fondly from my last run).

Shaman was nerfed in v7.0, so you might want to carefully checks the kit and the descriptions of its new spells.

Next Run Plans

Good luck and let us know when you'll have your final party composition ready!

can’t wait to see what’s next!

I hope you'll check my IA_Rebalanced component of IATweaks when it's ready then It'll introduce hundreds of changes, rework some battles, intoduce new items, spells, enemies and will make many lesser-used classes and kits go up at least a tier or two.

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Jun 20 2025, 11:02 PM